Constrained coding for the deep-space optical channel
Bruce E. Moision, Jon Hamkins · Proceedings of SPIE, the International Society for Optical Engineering/Proceedings of SPIE · 2002
We investigate methods of coding for a channel subject to a large dead-time constraint, i.e., a constraint on the minimum spacing between transmitted pulses, with the deep-space optical channel as the motivating example. Several constrained codes designed to satisfy the dead-time constraint are considered and compared on the basis of throughput, complexity, and decoded error-rate. The performance of an iteratively decoded serial concatenation of a modulation code with an outer code is evaluated and shown to provide significant gains over Reed-Solomon concatenated with Pulse Position Modulation.